"Wake up."
"Ugh," Wyb rubbed his eyes. He was eight but very observant for his age. He could sense his mother was in a bad mood already before sunrise"Now Wyb!," she said shortly.
"Get dressed. We need to go."
"Where are we going?" He asked, sliding out of bed and slipping on his shoes.
He knew that tone in his mother's voice. It meant they were in trouble and needed to move quickly. He had lost track of how many times they had moved, especially in the last year.
"I don't have time to answer your questions," she snapped. "Move it."
Wyb finished dressing and followed his mother as closely as he could through the crowded market street. She was moving fast, as though she were trying to lose him. He reached out to take her hand but she pulled away at his touch. Wyb didn't know what he had done to put her in such a foul mood. Perhaps he hadn't gotten ready fast enough. He wondered where his father was. He didn't remember much of him, not even his last name, only that he had gone out one day and his mother took the opportunity to leave. Was he the reason they kept moving? Did he care that they were gone? He never dared to ask his mother these questions. Times were tough and each day he could see his mother grow more angry and desperate with their situation. It was best to just keep quiet and follow her.
"Here," his mother stopped in front of an unmarked storefront. She knelt down to meet his eye level. "Now when we go in here, keep quiet. Understood?"
Wyb nodded as she straightened his vest and dusted off his shoulders. It was the most affection she had given him in months. But he knew she was doing her best. It must be stressful whatever it was that kept her in a constant state of panic. He followed his mother into the store and saw two Zygerrians.
"You said he was eight," the female zygerrian said with disgust in her voice.
"He is," Wyb's mother replied.
"He's small," the other zygerrian said, poking Wyb's back with a staff. Wyb frowned and swatted the staff away. "And feisty."
"Let's go brother. This is a raw deal," the female zygerrian said, pulling her hood over her feline ears.
"Wait! Please," Wyb's mother plied. "I know he's smaller than most boys his age. But he's a hard worker. Very obedient."
"Is that right boy?!" the zygerrian's brother crouched down and grabbed Wyb's shoulder."Any defiance is unwelcomed and will not go unpunished."
"You are his mother?" the female zygerrian asked, slightly curious about the relationship between the two.
"I gave birth to him," she answered, not wanting to accept the title. The two slavers exchanged looks. "And the father?" the female zygerrian continued to question. She wasn't going to take any chances with this deal.
"He's dead," Wyb's mother said. Wyb turned and looked up at her. This was the first time he had heard about his father in a year. If he was dead, then why were they always running?
"Fine," the female zygerrian snapped her fingers and her brother placed bindings on Wyb's tiny hands. She took out a small bag of credits and handed them over to Wyb's mother. "Why don't you put this toward getting sterilized?"
"Mom! No! Where are they taking me?! Mom! Please no! I promise I'll be good. Don't let them take me! Help!"
–Wyb woke suddenly. He hated that dream. He had been having it since he was eight, but now with everything going on it was becoming more frequent. He sat up and checked the time. It was nearly dawn. Looking around his quarters it was small and basic, but he wasn't expecting much more from an outpost in the outer rim. In fact, he preferred it to his room on Coruscant. It reminded him of his time with Lenore and the Forgotten. It felt like home.
He stood and splashed his face with water attempting to banish the bad dream and its lingering feelings it had caused. He took a deep breath and looked at himself in the foggy mirror. Who was he really? Was he someone of importance? Clearly not, to be tossed away to slavers.
He shook his head and brushed his teeth recounting his encounter with the training officer and the mandalorian. Why had he snapped? He knew it was the stupid and immature. Why did he spill so much information to Mando? He hadn't seen the man in nearly three years and divulged more information than he should've. But he knew Din was not much of a talker, which was in his favor. All he had to do was focus on making good with the Orrelios and figuring out how to get the rangers off his back and especially Wolf.
"Morning Sir," Wyb called out to Zeb who was already out in the yard organizing supply containers.
"Oh great," Zeb groaned at the sight of Wyb. He did not want to deal with him after yesterday. Wyb stopped and held a salute and waited for orders.
"If you're waiting for me to dismiss you, you'll end up holding that pose until the sun sets," Zeb grumbled.
"I guess I'm still in a Coruscant mindset," Wyb lowered his arm. "Need help?"
"Why don't you run off with the others," Zeb said. "I don't need any problems today."
"About yesterday-" Wyb began.
"I'm busy." Zeb cut him off quickly. He continued to move container after container on to a pallet.
"Why don't you let the loader droids do that?" Wyb asked.
"Ha…you're right about one thing Fry, you are stuck in a Coruscant mindset. This is the rim. Budget is almost non-existence here," Zeb said.
"So let me do it," Wyb suggested. "To make up for yesterday?"
"You think I've given a second thought about you and that tin can?" Zeb lied. He had. He was more than annoyed about it.
"No but I'm sure there are more important things an officer can be doing than loading crates," Wyb said. Zeb turned and looked at him ready to fight. "Look, let me do this, please. I got a lot of practice. I'm here to help, and I'd rather do manual labor than go back into that lounge watching those pilots get sloshed."
"Fine," Zeb dropped a crate and moved aside. Wyb began to look at the crates and think of the best way to organize and move all of them."Spoke to General Syndulla last night. She said you did her a solid during her hearing."
"Droid did most of the saving, I was just the transport," Wyb admitted as he decided he was going to build a belt to move and stack the crates. "Hope she's out of hot water now."
"Ha, Hera is always dodging obstacles just to find another. That's what makes her a good pilot." Zeb said joyfully. "Did you meet the kid?"
"Her son? Yeah…a bit strange," Wyb admitted as he took some measurements.
"Yeah, like his father," Zeb said sadly.
"Mind if I use the scraps from the recycle shed? I have an idea," Wyb asked. "I wanna try something. It'll take me a few hours but if it works, then our loading days are over."
"Knock yourself out Fry, the sun hasn't even come up," Zeb said and walked away uncertain about the new recruit and lost in thought of his old friend and the past.
"Look what we got here," Ketter said as the pilots approached Wyb who stood beside a conveyor belt with a robotic claw. It clapped onto the crates, scanned the exterior bar code and loaded it onto a pallet ready for shipping.
"You part ugnaught kid?" Dodger asked as they inspected the contraption. "This looks great."
"Where'd you learn this? The academy?" Ketter asked.
"Some, but mostly growing up," Wyb answered feeling proud. Zeb walked over and looked at the belt and nodded. "Had to learn to work smarter, not harder."
"Ok, so you're not completely useless," Zeb admitted. "What else can you do?"
"You name it and I'll have a go at it," Wyb said willingly. "I just wanna do my part."
"You will soon enough, kid. Nice work," Dodger answered and patted him on the shoulder.
"Maybe you can take a look at the droid compartment in my X-wing. I can't fully lock him in. Been bungee cording him my last few runs," Ketter said.
"Sure. Just show me," Wyb said went to follow Ketter before Wolf's hand was on his chest.
"Enough," Wolf interjected. "We're supposed to go out on the track today, not be playing mechanic. What about you Watt? Care to have a go at it?"
"My name is Wyb," he corrected.
"That's not a bad 'd love to see what you got, kid." Dodger agreed.
"Just need a ship," Wyb said, trying not to show his annoyance at the assortment of nick names for him. "Zeb, how's that old BTL-B Y-wing?"
"Not ready." Zeb said. "Controls are tight, pressurization just got fixed, the only thing I would count on is the ejector seat."
"Sounds perfect for our mechanic here," Wolf said, and stepped away. "I'll grab you a suit and helmet."
"Wolf," Ketter protested. "We're not trying to get the kid hurt or killed here."
"He's a ranger. Rangers fly. Carson's too busy out playing politics or bathaing around with the Mandos, someone's got to get the new recruit in the air."
"I have a bad feeling about this," Zeb said. "Maybe it's better to wait for Carson to get back. Suppose to have three new x-wings shipped to the yard in two days."
"The kid's been here twiddling his thumbs for two days," Wolf argued.
"You're call, kid," Dodger said.
"It's Wyb. Let's go," Wyb stated sternly and followed Wolf to get his pilot's uniform.
"How's she fairing?" Dodger asked, leading the pack.
"Like she looks," Wyb adjusted the controls and felt the aircraft jolt and screech. "Like a piece of junk."
"Watch it, that's a piece of history you got in your palms," Dodger half joked.
"Or it'll make you history if you stay in it any long," Ketter joined in. "I'm having second thoughts on this whole run Dodge. Maybe we should send the kid back."
"Would you two stop coddling him," Wolf snapped. "The sooner we fly the course the sooner we get back and have to figure out the next thing to do to kill time."
"I'm ok Kett," Wyb responded as he adjusted the amount of fuel funneled to his engines. "Brought a GAT-12h Skipray ship back to life back home. When we get back, I'll make some adjustments and she'll float like a feather."
"Enough chatter," Wolf said and took the lead and sailed through a tight canyon. "Try and keep up."
Dodger and Ketter followed directly behind him as Wyb lowered his stick to balance the clunky ship. By the second turn he was beginning to get a feel for the aircraft.
"Not bad," Dodger complimented.
"Is this where you all train?" Wyb asked.
"For now," Ketter responded. "Keeps us sharp. There are two other paths we haven't scouted yet. One leads to the beaches, the other to the deep jungle."
"Feeling adventurous today?" Wolf asked.
"Always," Wyb responded without hesitation. He was anxious to show off his skills now that he was accustomed to his ship.
"Negative," Dodger interrupted. "Finish the loop and head back. Carson and Reed are arriving this afternoon with more info on their sweep."
"Hope there aren't any more pirate threats," Ketter said.
"Come on," Wolf pressed on. "So the kid can glide, I wanna see if he can fly."
"No," Dodger repeated as he saw the unexplored turn come up."Repeat, finish the loop and head back to base. I'll take the lead."
Wyb was underwhelmed by his first trek out. He wanted to show them what he was made of. He checked the ship's readings and knew it was now or never. He quickly flushed more fuel to his dual engines and hung a sharp right.
"Tersu! What are you doing?!" Dodger yelled.
"Flying," Wyb said and saw Wolf take the right and follow alongside him. The two continued on as the canyon became narrow.
"Alright, so you're a bit daring, that I can work with," Wolf said. "Now lower your ship just underneath mine. We're gonna mirror some formation."
"It's too tight, especially since it looks like we took the turn toward the jungle," Wyb alerted.
"
We have enough space for the next few minutes. I've made it out here before," Wolf assured him. Wyb held his position. He felt he was being set up. "Look Wyb, being part of the rangers is trusting each other. Now you gonna trust me or just glide along the trees?"
Wyb reluctantly moved his ship underneath the x-wing.
"There you go, nice and easy," Wolf said. He began to shift his x-wing and watched Wyb mimic his movements effortlessly. "Not bad. You actually aren't bad. Quick reflexes will come in handy out here."
"You don't say," Wyb sassed.
"Ha," Wolf chuckled. "Yeah I know I've given you a hard time, but you wouldn't believe the other recruits we got sent. I knew from the moment they set foot on the ground they wouldn't last."
"You could be a little nicer," Wyb replied at the unexpressed apology.
"Nicer doesn't keep you alive."
Suddenly his ship was hit by a branch. It jerked to the left as the right engine began to smoke.
"Damn, lost the engine," Wyb alerted.
"Don't panic, deplore your extinguisher and reroute your fuel to the left. We'll head back now, you should make it," Wolf calmly said, moving out of Wyb's way so he could clear the increasingly dense forest.
"Extinguisher is jammed," Wyb said, remaining calm. "The engine is gonna blow. I'll dump the fuel and eject."
"Capital Training has paid off. Want me to run through the checklist with you?"
"If you're bored, sure," Wyb remarked.
"I like you Wyb. You're ok in my book. Ok now disengage the throttle and level out as much as you can."
"Throttle disengaged, steady for now.."
"Good. Next, the ejection handle is under your seat. Make sure your head is back and your chin is tucked in. You'll feel a jolt. Activate your homing device on the pilot seat and rescue team will extract you within the hour. You ready?"
"On three," Wyb took a deep breath. Counted and ejected from the spacecraft. His chute opened and he drifted quickly into the branches of the jungle tree line breaking his landing onto the ground. "Oaf!"
"You ok?"
"Affirmative," Wyb confirmed as he unfastened his seat and rolled out.
"Not bad ranger. Hang tight. You're lucky. There's no rain forecasted today. This area gets flash floods. But don't worry. You'll be back on base in no time. Do you copy?"
"Copy, over and out." Wyb stood and wiped the mud off his uniform.
He had a few scratches on his arms and legs, but was fine. He located the beacon on his chair and activated it. He caught Wolf saluting him and turned his X-Wing around and headed back to base. So much for a trust exercise, but at least he was on Wolf's good side for now.
Wyb deconstructed the pilot seat to find a pack full of supplies for 48 hours. It was standard protocol. Most of the dry food had expired a year before, but the water was still good. If he wanted to be safe he needed to purify it. Just as he prepared to boil his ration he heard thunder. Within a moment he felt a huge raindrop hit his forehead. He needed to get to the high ground immediately.